Writing My Novel: How I Spent My Summer Vacation (so far)

Well, since we last talked, I have been very busy. In fact, it's been a whirlwind summer. I returned from the European trip and stayed home a total of six days before Scott and I were off to Las Vegas. To be honest, the timing of this trip was not our choice, but we had promised to take our son, Ben, and his girlfriend for their first visit to Sin City and this was the only time frame they had open. (Ben is having to move to find a new job since he is one of the thousands of victims of Rick Perry's "Let's Make Sure None of My Rich Friends Pay More Taxes by Firing Teachers Instead" policy. But that's another story.)

While we were in Vegas I was able to get front row, center tickets to see Barry Manilow at Paris, where we stayed. I have been a Fanilow since 1975 and I make no apologies. I love him. They allowed cameras at the show, just no video, and I took nearly 70 photos during the 90 minute show.

When we returned home, I stayed put for a grand total of eleven days before I was off to Marble Falls for a weekend at the lake house with a group of my best girlfriends. (OK, I know Marble Falls is just a little more than an hour away, but it still counts as a trip.) The weekend was relaxing and uplifting and I'm glad we finally were able to get together. By mutual agreement, there are no photos of this get-together; none of us wanted to end up on Facebook in our bathing suits!

So now I am home for the rest of the summer and happy to stay put for a while. I wrote one post while I was in Germany, the one about Memorial Day at the Luxembourg Cemetery. Since then I haven't written anything and I'm beginning to get a little itchy. I plan to spend some concentrated time writing during July, mostly because it will be too hot to do anything but swim and stay inside.

But before I leave you today, I want to give you some of impressions of Germany. We had such a wonderful time and I took so many photographs that I am having trouble deciding what to share. So I'm going to the bottom line -- food. Here are some photos of some of the great food I had on my trip. Enjoy! I'll see you again soon.